Whole-Home Humidifier Installation in Whitmore Lake, Michigan

A lot of Whitmore Lake furnaces already have a humidifier on them. The question is whether it has done anything in the last five years. The bypass units installed on furnaces in 48189 during the 1920s–60s lake cottages converted to year-round homes, with 1990s–2010s subdivisions behind them were often never repadded, the damper was left in the summer position, or the humidistat was set to a number the unit could not reach and gave up. Temprasure repairs and replaces humidifiers in Whitmore Lake as often as we install new ones. A dispatch fee covers the diagnosis, the repair is quoted flat, and when the unit near Whitmore Lake High School has corroded past saving we tell you that a new one costs less than the parts.

Whitmore Lake houses and what that means for humidifiers

Lakefront homes on East Shore Drive and along Whitmore Lake Road are the defining housing type: 1920s–60s cottages that were raised, expanded and insulated over the years, with furnaces in crawlspaces, half-basements or closets, ductwork routed through whatever chase was available, and water heaters wedged under stairs. Many have had a second floor added onto a frame that was built for one, and the ductwork rarely followed. Behind the lake, the older streets off Main Street hold 1940s–70s ranches and bungalows on crawlspaces, some of which started on fuel oil. The 1990s–2010s subdivisions off Barker, Spencer and Nine Mile Roads are colonials on full poured basements with builder-grade 80 percent furnaces, single-stage condensers and bypass humidifiers nearing replacement. Outlying homes on North Territorial and Six Mile are acreage builds and farmhouses on propane and wells. High water tables around both lakes keep below-grade equipment at risk.

Water quality in Whitmore Lake shapes how we install and maintain humidifiers. The municipal water in town and the well water in the rural parts of Washtenaw County both carry enough hardness that a pad is finished after one winter, and the iron in some wells around Six Mile Road corridor stains the distribution tray and plugs the solenoid screen. We install units with easily accessible pads, show the homeowner how to swap one, and change it on every fall tune-up. For Whitmore Lake homes on a softener we tee the humidifier into the hard side when the manufacturer calls for it, because softened water leaves a different residue on the pad. Small details, but they are the difference between a humidifier that works for fifteen years and one that quits in three.

Winter air in Whitmore Lake gets as dry as any in Washtenaw County, and the 1920s–60s lake cottages converted to year-round homes, with 1990s–2010s subdivisions behind them around Spencer Road area and Horseshoe Lake area were built loose enough that the furnace spends all winter heating cold, dry outside air that leaks in. The result is static shocks, cracked trim, bloody noses and a house that feels colder than the thermostat says. A whole-home humidifier mounted on the furnace fixes all of that for a modest cost, and we install and service them across Whitmore Lake, from the blocks near Whitmore Lake itself to the streets out by the west shore along Whitmore Lake Road, about 26 minutes from our shop.

Local details we plan around in Whitmore Lake

• Almost all homes are on private wells, and the water around the lakes is hard with iron, so water heaters and humidifiers need regular attention.
• Many winterized cottages have original 60-amp panels or multiple subpanels added over the years, and a new air conditioner usually means an electrician visits first.
• DTE gas serves most of the Northfield side, but some Green Oak addresses are on Consumers Energy and outlying roads on either side run on propane.
• Whitmore Lake and Horseshoe Lake dominate the local weather for the homes around them: summer humidity is high, morning fog is common from May through October, and basements and crawlspaces near the shoreline rarely dry out. The lakes also moderate the first freezes slightly, but by January the open ice and surrounding fields let northwest wind blow across unbroken. Snow runs a bit heavier here than in Ypsilanti because of the slightly higher ground and the township's position farther from the Huron valley.